Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders - SABR Portsmouth, New Hampshire

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Seacoast Area Bike Riders (SABR) represents folks riding bikes on the Seacoast of New Hampshire and Southern Maine. We represent all types of bicycle riders; commuter; casual; racer, mountain, cyclocross and fitness riders. SABR has done a lot to push forward bicycle and pedestrian facilities, routes and awareness over the years: 1. Bike/Walk to Work Day: Seacoast Bike/Walk to Work Day is in its 11th year. It is happening around the state now, but SABR laid the foundation for that to happen with statewide organizing work we did in 2005 with funding we procured from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. 2. NH Seacoast Greenway: SABR provided the matching funding that started work on the NH Seacoast Greenway in 2007. Although it is a slow process, it is beginning to bear fruit: NHDOT is buying the Hampton Branch rail corridor from Hampton to Portsmouth and explicitly supporting trail development on the corridor in no small part because of support for the trail that began with the plan SABR supported. The trail-building process on the abandoned rail line from the Massachusetts border north in Seabrook is underway, and the on-road route has been signed and an official part of the 2500-mile East Coast Greenway stretching from the Canadian border in Calais, Maine all the way to Key West, Florida. 3. Seacoast Trails. This sub-committee of SABT is working to develop walking and bicycle trails that will use the Seabrook to Hampton rail trail as the spine for the network. Currently Seacoast Trails is working with area towns and the Southeast Land Trust on cataloging existing trails, identifying areas where trail improvements are needed and identifying properties for future trails. 4. Memorial Bridge: SABR networking and advocacy turned out cyclists to meetings to ensure NHDOT put good bike facilities on the new Memorial Bridge. SABR attended two and a half years of stakeholder meetings to shape the future of the Piscataqua River crossings. The new Memorial Bridge (set to open this summer) will have a fully-paved surface, 5-foot shoulders and 6-foot sidewalks. In short, it will have better bike/ped facilities than nearly any roadway in the region! Also, throughout that process we pushed for bike/ped facilities on the Sarah Long Bridge when that is replaced - on a bridge with for the past 60 years has had none. 5. State Bike/Pedestrian Funding: In 2011, when the State of NH was forwarding an effort to cut Bike/Ped funding by 70% SABR turned out cyclists to NHDOT 10 Year Plan hearings, which was instrumental in stopping these cuts. 6. Pease Multi-Use Path: Over the past 8 years SABR has played a key role working with Tenants Association at Pease (TAP) to get the Pease Development Authority (PDA) and NHDOT to finally build the Pease Multi-Use Path as designed. This spring SABR donated $5000 towards this project and publicized it as a challenge donation to try to spur private donations to fill the gap between the monies raised 8 years ago and the cost of the project in 2013 dollars (c. $120k). To this date we have generated over $12,000 towards the project, and matching donations came in to fill the funding gap. This only occurred after SABR and a number of Pease businesses attended a meeting last autumn in which the PDA would have otherwise voted to waste the funding on a sidepath only along Grafton Drive without the key off-road connection along NH33. Thanks to efforts by all concerned parties the path is now completed. 7. Seacoast VeloKids: The Seacoast VeloKids program a free after-school program that is teaching elementary kids to ride mountain bikes in the woods. The first course, which started in April 2013 "sold out" with 4 boys and 6 girls. It is exactly the kind of thing SABR should be doing. SABR brought Director Rich Matthes is on the SABR Board of and made it financially and organizationally possible for his vision to exist by bringing it within the SABR 501(c)3 umbrella and taking responsibility for its success. 8. Bicycle Benefits: SABR is spearheading the implementation of the Bicycle Benefits program – a Shop by Bicycle program that provides discounts at local member businesses to cyclists that purchase a $5 helmet sticker and ride to the businesses. This program is already established in other communities around the US such as Burlington, Vermont, and is a great way to positively show the value of cyclists to area businesses. SABR is including a free helmet sticker with every $25 SABR membership. 9. Bicycle Friendly Community Program (BFC): SABR began talking with Seacoast communities about becoming Bicycle Friendly five years ago, which led to Kittery, Maine and Exeter, NH proclaiming to be so. A Share the Road Campaign several years ago led to the Portsmouth City Council issuing a Share the Road Proclamation. SABR is working with the city, which now is actively seeking to become an official League of American Bicyclists Bicycle Friendly Community, which comes with specific bike/ped improvements in engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement, evaluation and planning. 10. Portsmouth Criterium: SABR has always been the parent organization for the Portsmouth Criterium bicycle race in Market Square. Eight years ago SABR provided the nest egg and financial framework to revive a race that it had been involved with in 2000 and had roots back into the 1980s, and our non-profit status has allowed the race to grow and thrive. It would be great to see SABR do more, but we need your help. Become a member, volunteer your time, skills, or passion. Or do them all! SABR is a volunteer organization looking to do more and make the Seacoast an even better place to live, visit and enjoy by bike and on foot.

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Seacoast Area Bicycle Riders - SABR

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Non-profit organization category, Portsmouth